The late Brigadier-General Brooke was one of the youngest Colonels in our army, he having obtained his Brevet-Colonelcy in less than 23 years after his entry into the Service. He joined the army in June, 1854, and as a Subaltern landed with the 48th Foot in the Crimea on the 21st April, 1855, serving at the siege and fall of Sebastopol. After the war he accompanied the 48th to India, and went as aide-de-camp to Sir Robert Napier on the China expedition, serving throughout the campaign of 1860, and taking part in the actions of Sinho and Tangku, the assault of the Taku Forts (severely wounded), and the final advance on and surrender of Pekin. For his China services he received a brevet majority, dated the 15th February, 1861. He afterwards exchanged into the 94th, and was selected for staff employ in the Bengal Presidency at the close of 1864, when he was appointed Assistant Adjutant-General of the Presidency Division. Colonel Brooke was subsequently Assistant Adjutant-General at Mean Meer, and in November, 1877, was selected to succeed Brigadier Aitchison as Adjutant-General of the Bombay army. On the formation of a Bombay corps for service in Afghanistan, Brigadier Brooke was one of the first officers selected for command, and was sent to Kandahar with General Primrose. He bore a very high reputation in the service as a first-rate officer, and his loss will be greatly felt, especially at such a crisis when reliable leaders are so much needed at the seat of war.
The deceased belonged to an old Irish family, the Brookes, of Colebrooke, County Fermanagh, and was a cousin of the Earl of Huntington, his mother, Lady Arabella Hastings, having been a sister of the late peer. An uncle of the deceased, Lieutenant Francis Brooke, 7th Dragoon Guards, was slain at Waterloo. The family has furnished our army with several officers of distinction.
It seems to us that the death of Colonel Brooke in the sortie of the 16th was a peculiarly sad one. No doubt it was the death which this gallant and distinguished officer would have preferred. It was, we take it, a soldier's death, realised at the head of his men. But there are enemies and enemies, and certainly a soldier might be excused if he shrank from having his throat cut by a fanatic, fighting in a cause which on the British side is not by any means clear. Colonel Brooke, as our notice of his service will show, had led a brilliant military career. He entered the army in time to take part in the Crimea war, and was present at the siege and fall of Sebastopol. Subsequently he shared the perils of the war in China, and was engaged in the assault on the Taku Forts, where he was severely wounded. It is true that a British officer must be prepared to face death wherever he may be sent to meet his country's enemies. But in the Crimea and in China there was a tangible object to be realised sufficient to justify the campaign, and to lift the enterprise from the miserable conflict which is now being raged, through no fault of ours, in Afghanistan. Colonel Brooke, like other gallant officers and men who have fallen with him, adds very heavily to the already too heavy losses of the war in Afghanistan.—Broad Arrow.
THE LATE BRIGADIER-GENERAL BROOKE.
On Friday evening the sad ceremony of transferring the remains of the late Brigadier-General Brooke, from the I.G.S. Dalhousie to the troopship Serapis, took place in the Bombay Harbour, in the presence of a large number of the deceased Officer's sorrowing friends and comrades. The circumstances under which General Brooke met with his death in the sortie from Kandahar, whilst endeavouring to rescue a wounded Brother Officer, are too fresh in the minds of our readers to require any recapitulation from us. He died nobly as became a soldier, and it was only fitting when his remains were passing through this City for interment in his native land, that those who had known and respected him during life, and others who knew him only by his deeds and his glorious death, should meet and offer their tribute of respect to his memory. It will be remembered that the deceased's body was not recovered until several days after the memorable sortie; but when found it was buried with the customary military honours at Kandahar. Subsequently General Brooke's friends expressed a wish that the body should be buried in Ireland, and, accordingly the remains were exhumed and brought to Kurrachee last Sunday. A party of the 98th Regiment escorted the remains from M'Leod Station to the Kurrachee Arsenal, the band of the Regiment accompanying the procession and playing the Dead March in Saul. It was at first intended that the body should be handed over to the Rev. Kilbee Stuart, with a view of its transmission to England, but a communication was received from the authorities to the effect that the Secretary of State had issued orders that it was to be sent home in a troopship. In accordance with these instructions, the body was, on Tuesday, placed on board the I.G.S. Dalhousie for conveyance to Bombay, where it was to be transhipped to the troopship Serapis. The Dalhousie arrived in harbour yesterday morning at about nine o'clock, flying its flag at half-mast, and having its yard arms "cock billed," or placed in transverse positions, the usual manner of denoting that a vessel carries the mortal remains of some distinguished personage. After the Dalhousie had entered the harbour, the Government and other ships in the fort hauled their flags down to half-mast point, in which position they remained during the whole of the day. Orders had been issued by the military authorities directing that the transfer of the body from one ship to another should be attended with every mark of respect; and accordingly, yesterday evening, shortly before five o'clock, there was a large gathering of Military Officers on board, and in the vicinity of the Dalhousie to take part in this ceremony to the honoured dead. The body on its leaving Kurrachee was encased in a shell coffin of common wood; but on its arrival in Bombay it was transferred to a handsome teak wood coffin, with brass handles and furniture. No inscription appeared upon the lid, this work being left for a future occasion. Amongst those who took part in the ceremony were:—Brigadier-General C. T. Aitchison, C.B.; Colonels A. H. Dawson, R.A., and J. F. Chapman, 28th N.I.; Lieutenant-Colonels C. S. Stuart, 21st N.I., J. Jameson, 25th N.I., and C. P. Stokes, 2/4th K.O.; Majors C. C. Gore, 83rd Foot and Latham, R.A.; the Ven. Archdeacon Sharpin; Captains R. A. Knox, 2/4th K.O., C. T., Echalaz, 21st N.I., W. G. Muloy, R.A., H. B. Lawrence, 2/4th K.O., J. de B. Lynch, 25th N.I., R. S. Simpson, 21st N.I., and M. E. Crofton, 2/4th K.O.; Lieutenant A. J. P. Nuttall, 25th N.I.; A. B. Mein, 21st N.I.; J. Rawlandson, 2/4th N.I.; J. M. Gawne, 2/4th; G. E. Evans, 21st N.I.; C. B. Adams, 21st N.I.; H. O. Powell, 25th N.I.; Matthews, 2/4th; P. R. Simmonds, 10/9th R.A.; A. B. Ridley, 2/4th; E. Dolphin, 2/4th; J. W. Tritton, 2/4th; G. V. Burrows, 25th N.I.; Paymaster J. W. Deage, 2/4th; Quartermaster H. Rowland, 2/4th; and Surgeons-Major J. Parr, A.M.D., Codrington, A.M.D., Robinson, A.M.D., and Thorpe, I.M.D.; Captain Mellis, Assistant Quartermaster-General; Captain Moore, Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General; Captain Middlemass, Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General; Major Spring, R.A., Commissary of Ordnance; Captain Davis, R.A., Assistant Commissary of Ordnance. At the appointed time, the coffin, which was covered with the Union Jack, was placed on board a ship's boat by several sturdy Tars from the Serapis, the boats containing the mourners, in the meantime taking up their position in the rear of the corpse. The boat containing the body slowly moved off under the tow of the steam-launch Lorelie. Immediately following the boat containing the corpse was one with Brigadier-General Aitchison, who acted as chief mourner, on board; and twelve other craft, carrying the remainder of the mourners. As the procession moved away, the yard arms of the Dalhousie were placed in their proper positions, and minute guns were fired from the Apollo Bunder Saluting Battery, until the deck of the Serapis was reached. On arrival at the Serapis the mourners disembarked from their boats, and the coffin having been placed in slings, was conveyed to the deck, where it was received with due honours, the mourners and crew of the vessel all uncovering their heads in token of respect. The body having been placed in the mortuary of the troopship, the mournful ceremony terminated, and the mourners left for the shore in their respective boats. We believe that the deceased's remains, on arrival at Portsmouth, will be forwarded to Ashbrooke, Brookeboro', Fermanagh, Ireland, his native place, for final interment. We should not omit to mention that in addition to the naval and military mourners who took part in the procession, the ceremony was watched with interest by a number of private spectators seated in boats.
